Car-replacer.



Patented sept. 26', |899. A. L. SPRAGUE.

No. sas-,73.9.

cAn nEPLAcEn.

Application led Feb. 8, 1899.)

No Model.)

bww/55555- WNV/MQ TN: nonms Farias co, www-uma., wAsmNuroN. c.A

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAHAM L. SPRAGUE, OF MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO I-IIM- SELF, FRED M. ROLLINS, OF NEPONSET, AND IVILLIAM R. MAY, OF NEIV- TON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-REPLACER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,739, dated September 26, 1899.

Application tiled February 8, 1899. Serial No.704y881. (No model.)

To all, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM L. SPRAGUE, of Milton, -in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Replacers; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in that class of devices known as carreplacers or wrecking-frogs, by means of which the replacement of the Wheels of a derailed car upon the track is facilitated.

The object of the invention is to so construct a car-replacer that when in use the carwheel which is outside the track may be carried upward above the surface of the rail and then directed onto the rail as the Wheel between the tracks is brought into position on its rail.

Another object of the invention is to so construct a car-replacer of this nature that it may be used on either rail of the track.

Another object of the invention is to so construct a car-replacer of this nature that the car-Wheel may be readily directed onto the replacement-frog.

The invention consists in the base-plate having means for engaging a rail and the frog pivoted upon the base-plate and adapted to carry the car-wheel on a plane above the track.

The invention also consists in the baseplate, the pivoted frog having ways extending at angles to each other and having end bases, one of which bears on the rail, and the inclined swinging rail.

The invention also consists in such other novel features of construction and combination of parts as shall hereinafter be more fully described, and pointed outin the claims.

Figure l represents a plan View of a track, showing the improved car-replacer in posiycar-wheels being indicated in dotted lines.

tion on one rail thereof, the positions of the Owing to the construction of car -wheels which have treads bearing on the tops of the rails and flanges of larger diameter than the treads which run along the inner surface of the rail as a provision against derailment the replacement of the wheels of a derailed car cannot be effected without lifting the wheels sufficiently to permit the iiange of the wheel outside the track to pass over its rail and to drop into place. This invention is designed to accomplish this purpose in an extremely simple and positive manner and to direct the outer wheel, when raised to the desired plane, along the rail.

In carrying my invention into practice I construct a base-plate 5, 'having a straight edge 6 and the circular openings 7 and 8, with their respective slots 9 t) and 10 l0. At the under side of the plate the thickness of the same is reduced about these openings. The under side of the plate is also furnished with the lin ll, which is adapted to seat itself between the outer side of the rail and the paving, and spurs l2 l2 are supplied for the better engagement of the plate on the roadway.

In one of the openings 7 or S, depending upon which side of the track the device is to be used, is removably pivoted the circular block 13 of the switch-bar le, this block having the ears l5 l5, which are entered through the slots, as 9 or lO, and engage the under edge of the opening at its reduced portion, thus forming a bayonet-joint connection. The switch-bar let rests at this end upon the surface of the base-plate and has a rounded end forming the abutments 1G and I7 at the ends of the rails 18 and 19. From the surface of the plate 5 the switch-bar inclines to the surface of the roadway, and at its free end the rails 16 and 17 diverge to facilitate the entrance between the same of the Wheelflange.

On the upper face of the base-plate 5 is pivoted the frog 20, having the arms 2l and 22 extending at angles to each other, the straight edges 23 and 24 of which are connected by the curve 25. The surfaces at the ends of the arms adjacent to the edges 23 and 24 are inclined toward the ends and are reduced in thickness from the backs of said arms toward said edges, and at the under sides ICO of the arms are formed blocks,as 2U, which are adapted to rest on the surface of JLho rail when the frog-arm is in position.

A locking-pin 27 may be removably secured in the base-plate 5 to hold the arm 21 or 22, as the case may be, against the end of the corresponding rail 1S or 19 to prevent the swinging of the same as the Wheel strikes it when passing from the switch-bar 14 to the frog. The base-plate is placed on the rail,

'with its edge 6 flush with the inner surface of the rail and the pin 11 engaged between the rail and the pavement. The block 13 of the switch-bar 14 is now engaged with the circular opening 7 or S, depending upon which rail of the track the device is mounted, and the free end of the switch-bar is swung to a position in front of the car-wheel. The car being moved along, its wheel a Will pass onto the switch-bar 14, the tread of thel wheel riding on the rail 1S in the position shown in the drawings, while the flange of the wheel will enter the groove between the rails 1S and 19. As the wheel a moves up the inclined switchbar 14 the wheel b will approach the trackrail Y, and when the wheel I) reaches the upper end of the switch-rail and its ange moves against the surface 24 ofthe arm 22 the wheel Z; will be crowded toward and onto the rail Y, while the tread ofthe wheel a, riding upon the surface of the frog 20, will be guided by the wheel-flange Working on the curve 25 until the wheel h is wholly on the rail Y and the wheel a moves along the arm 2l of the frog and down over the inclined end of the same to the track X.

It is obvious that when the car leaves the track on the outside of the rail Y the plate 5 is reversed and the block 13 of the switch-bar 14 is engaged with the opening S.

. Having thus described my invention, I

claim as now and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A car-replacer comprising a base having means for engaging a rail, a frog pivoted to said base and having angularly-extending arms connected by a curved portion, and an inclined way for directing a car-wheel onto said frog.

2. A carreplacer comprising a base having means for engaging a rail, a frog pivoted on said base and having an arm adapted to extend in a line with the rail, said arm having a su pportin g-shoulder bearing on the rail and an inclined end above such shoulder, and means for directing the car-wheel onto said frog.

3. A car-replacer comprising a base-plate having means for securing the same on a rail, an inclined way pivotally secured to the baseplate and having rails the upper surfaces of which are above the base-plate, and a frog pivoted on the base-plate and having angii larly-disposed arms, one of which arms eX- tends along the line of the base-plate while the other bears against the abutment formed by the 'raised end of the inclined Way.

4. The combination with the plate 5 having the openings 7 and 8, the 1in 11 and the spurs 12 12, the switch-bar 14 having the block 13, engaged in one of said openings, and having the rails 1S and 19, of the frog 2O pivoted to the base-plate and having the arms 21 and 22 furnished with the edges 23 and 24 connected by the curve 25, said arms having their end surfaces inclined as described and being furnished with the supporting-shoulders 26 2G, as and for the purpose described.

ABRAHAM L. SPRAGUE.

Witnesses:

XVM. R. MAY, FRED M. RoLLrNs. 

